Reading Between the Lines
by Alien-Queen-Stan
Summary: Toshinori is going stir crazy in his retirement and Midoriya suggests he get a hobby.


After retiring from hero work Toshinori had more free time on his hands than he knew what to do with. For so many years he had tunnel vision and his only focus had been on his career. Very recently actively looking for a successor had became a major priority for him instead of being placed on the back burner and even then it hadn't taken him long until he came across Midoriya. Outside of his work he hadn't had time to think of much else let alone set aside time for anything else.

Over the first few weeks of his retirement Toshinori had attempted to keep himself busy with lesson plans and completing errands he had been putting off for far too long. He had never liked being idle, his days felt far more fulfilling if he was productive, however, there were only so many chores to do around his home and only so far in advance he could plan for his classes. It hadn't taken long before Toshinori began to feel restless and resentful of his situation. He had never really even thought of what he would do when he lost One for All before but retirement sure wasn't suiting him. His weekdays went by no problem with his classes keeping him on his toes with their usual antics but weeknights and weekends were when his world felt so horribly small.

Of course that was partially his own fault. Since the fight with All for One Toshinori had been avoiding being out in public too often. Outside of interactions with his coworkers at U.A. and Naomasa and others on the task force assigned to handling the League of Villains situation, he tended to keep to himself and tried not to be around the general public. He wasn't sure how to handle the stares or whispers about his form or the fight so he just wanted to avoid it all together. He knew it was cowardly of him, but he knew if he were to wander the streets like he used to it would be impossible to ignore how much things had changed in such a short amount of time. During the first few press conferences or interviews he had after the fight with All for One the misplaced pity others seemed to have for him was written all over their faces. He missed the interactions he'd have with the public from before the whole situation occurred, when their smiles were bright and the looks of relief that would come to their faces when they knew that had nothing to worry about if he was around. His presence used to put people at ease, now it was as if seeing his form brought all of their anxieties to the surface. They were a reflection of Toshinori's own concern for the future, one he didn't want to contemplate too much on, so it was just better to avoid the situation all together.

However, he was beginning to regret his decision to keep away from public spaces now that it felt as if the walls of his home were closing in on him. His skin practically crawled and he found himself pacing so often he thought he might wear a hole in the floor. It was pathetic that the thing that was going to do All Might: The Symbol of Peace in was boredom.

* * *

With a deep sigh Toshinori leaned away from the papers on his desk and closed his eyes. Any other teacher would be rejoicing, he had been able to finish grading his students' papers far ahead of schedule. He also had the following week's lesson plan already laid out and ready to go, he had an entire weekend to do as he pleased. He struggled to restrain a groan, he had honestly thought the papers would be take much more time on his end. He didn't usually assign papers to his students, and he felt kind of bad doing so, but he just needed something to pass the time even if it involved trying to decipher some of his students' more… creative handwriting. Honestly, some of it looked like chicken scratch but beggars couldn't be choosers.

The only thing he had planned for the rest of the day was working with Midoriya on some of his training later. One positive to come out of retirement was that Toshinori had been able to spend more time with his protege. Toshinori could never fight off the fond smile that came to his face anytime he was around the boy, watching how he had grown from the meek and timid child practically shaking in his shoes to speak with him to the tenacious and more self confident young man had Toshinori's chest filling with pride. It was as if it had all happened in a blink of his eyes the time had flown by and Midoriya had taken to the training with an intensity he had been surprised by. The only regret Toshinori had was not being around more often to help him, most of the boy's training with One for All had occurred on his own or with other mentors. He had thought he would have more time before he lost All for One. He had known it was a possibility he would lose the quirk when the League began to become active and with All for One's return but he hadn't prepared for it to actually happen, he wanted to kick himself for being so short sighted. He hadn't made Midoriya's training a top priority when he should've, he had just thought the kid would get the ropes of it in his own time. Gran Torino hadn't been off the mark when he told Toshinori that his hero experience didn't automatically translate to him being a good teacher. Now, though, he had the opportunity to make up for lost time. He'd make sure Midoriya got the guidance and training he needed even if it sent Toshinori into an early grave worrying about all the broken bones the boy seemed so eager to get. He swore everytime he turned around the boy had broken something else, it would be funny if it didn't stress him out so much.

Glancing at the time Toshinori noted he still had a few hours to kill before he met Midoriya. Drumming his fingers along his desk and plopping his head in his other hand he considered his options. Midoriya had also been helping Toshinori come up with ideas of how to keep busy or at least entertained during the hours of his day where he was left with little to do. Toshinori had been a bit too eager to get to training with him and had completely forgot about the fact Midoriya received homework from other teachers and tests that were coming up. Toshinori was sure he had probably stressed out Midoriya with how often he had suggested they trained, the boy had to stutter his way through an explanation that he wasn't available as often as Toshinori would've liked. The boy had been giving apology after apology and Toshinori had to stop him before he ran out of breath and fainted on him. After explaining his situation to the boy, through some embarrassed muttering of his own, Midoriya had been eager to help.

The boy had suggested he take up a hobby of some sort. However the list of possibilities narrowed due to his inability for physical activity due to his injury or his avoidance of the general public. Toshinori had also never really had a hobby before, he had just done the regular things kids his age did and then when Nana decided to pass down All for One to him training had consumed his entire focus. He didn't have any artistic ability in his own opinion so taking up something like painting or writing would just frustrate him to no end. He supposed he wasn't much of a renaissance man. However, when the boy had suggested taking up reading in his free time his ears had perked up. He hadn't read something that wasn't related to hero paperwork or something of that nature in years, probably not since his required literature classes in high school. He supposed he enjoyed it then, even if doing the readings for class had been somewhat of a hassle due to how long they took and how often they interfered with his training. Upon not having this idea immediately shot down Midoriya had been quick to go on and on about different ways technology could be incorporated into just simply reading and how he could even use social media to talk to others about it or see what they were saying. Midoriya apparently had a big appreciation for book reviewers on a popular video sharing site due to how in depth and well rounded the reviews were. Apparently they had saved him a time or two when he had forgotten to read a book for his classes.

Glancing at the time again and then towards his computer, Toshinori figured it wouldn't hurt anything to see what had Midoriya so enthusiastic and had him insisting he watch a video or two. Toshinori felt a bit ridiculous just typing 'book review' into the search bar but for the life of him he couldn't remember the title of a book he had read before or had been interested in reading. Selecting a video at random he hadn't really been expecting all that much. How interesting could it be to listen to someone talk about a book?

Before Toshinori knew it he was sucked in and ended up watching more than a handful of videos. They had all been from the same channel, the woman doing the reviews had just been so captivating Toshinori couldn't help but continue. It was obvious literature was something she was passionate about from the way she would speak or the enthusiastic arm movements she'd make as her mind went a mile a minute and her mouth tried to catch up to explain just what she found so exciting about a certain book. She didn't seem to have a favorite genre and her reviews had a wide range She was always thorough in her reviews, making sure to list off important information about the writing but also biographical information about the author or historical events happening during the time it was written that could've possibly had an impact on the author's writing. She also included some issues she found with the book, if it was slow paced/she found the wording to be to flowery for her taste/or even ethical issues she had with the writing or author in general, so that anyone who bought the books wouldn't be misled. He didn't think someone reviewing a book on a historical event, one that he was pretty sure he slept through during his history lessons, would be so interesting but between how passionate she was and her sense of humor that she managed to slip in with how she edited a video or a joke here and there he was absolutely captivated.

Of course it probably helped that he found her to have a timeless beauty about her in his mind but that's besides the point.

In no time Toshinori had watched a decent amount of her videos and had gotten a pen and paper at some point to write down what books he thought he would be interested in reading from the reviews and synopsis she gave. He had been in the middle of a video when the sound of his phone going off startled him so bad he had nearly jumped in his seat. He couldn't remember expecting a call and when he glanced at the time he nearly tripped over himself getting to his feet. He was nearly ten minutes late to the training session with Midoriya and sure enough when he went to his phone Midoriya was calling with a few missed texts from the boy as well. Answering the phone and rushing out of his home he hoped the boy would understand that he lost track of time.

The time had gone by so quickly, Toshinori was actually a bit disappointed he had to leave and couldn't finish the video. Perhaps Midoriya had been onto something with these videos and reading in general, he may have just stumbled upon a solution to his problem.


End file.
